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The L.A. perspective on the Derrick Caracter arrest

While the New Orleans media have enjoyed a great deal of amusement stemming from the arrest of Los Angeles Lakers rookie Derrick Caracter (well-played, Times-Picayune headline writer!), the Los Angeles sports scribes have been less amused. This Los Angeles Timesstory on Caracter's arrest elicited a sage comment from a reader:

As a native New Orleanian, I would like to comment on Caracter's arrest. That IHOP is steps from Bourbon St. They deal with drunk people all day/night. He must be an exceptional a-hole to be first refused service and then arrested for being drunk in public at that location.

But the best West Coast article about the IHOP a-hole situation was penned by Dexter Fishmore of the sports website SB Nation. In fact, Fishmore's headline may be even better than the T-P's:

DERRICK CARACTER LOVES PANCAKES, IS AN IDIOTWho among us hasn't been arrested in an IHOP?

More of Fishmore under the jump.

This story takes the predictably depressing tale of an athlete finding trouble on an off-night in a world-famous party capital and sets it against the equally depressing backdrop of a chain restaurant whose food is barely a notch above what's on the menu in prison cafeterias. Even if, as I suppose is necessary, we stipulate that the details of the incident are alleged, there's still enough here to confirm and illustrate Caracter's talent for being a total jackass.

According to the police report, Caracter wasn't just drunk. He was "obviously drunk." The modifier is critical. My understanding is that in New Orleans, 50 to 70 percent of the city is drunk at all times, so if you're there and so inebriated that the police make a point of noting how obvious it was, you're doing something special. That's like getting arrested in Los Angeles for being too thin, or in Boston for being too racist.

NOLA's the worldwide gold standard for guilty-pleasure food. You could spend a week there doing nothing but scarfing down jambalaya, crawfish and Hubig's pies (kick-ass confections that your author has had shipped to his home in Hollywood on many occasions), and you'd barely scratch the surface of the city's culinary riches. Anyone dumb enough to suggest hitting IHOP in New Orleans should be incarcerated indefinitely and crammed into the next Gulf Coast oil well that BP blows up.